And alexander millar



HENRY F. COX, JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, AND ALEXANDER MILLAR, AOF NEWYORK,

i N. Y., ASSIGNORS TO HENRY F. COX.

MACHINERY Fon cUT'TnvG comas.

"Specification oi Letters Patent No. 33,122, `dated August 20, 1861.

To all whom it may` concern:

Be it `known that we, HENRY il?. Cox, of

Jersey City, State of New Jersey, and ALEXANDER MILLAR, ofthe city,county, and

State of N ew York, have invented certain new and useful improvements inMachinery for Cutting `Coi'ks; and we do hereby declai'ethat thefollowing is aA full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, referencebeing made to the `annexed drawing, making a part of this specification,in which- Figure lis an end view or elevation. Fig. 2 is a top or planview. F ig. 3 is a `side elevation. Figs. A6 and 7 are of partsindetail.

Similar letters indicate similar `parts throughout the figures.

My invention is an improvement in that class of cork Vcutting machinesby which -a number of corks may be cut at one and the same time out cfaslab or sheet 4of the `corkwood, and it consists, firstly, in themanner` whereby the clamps, around which the cutters revolve, Aare madeto press upon and hold the cork while it is being cute; secondly, in thepeculiar construction of the cutting parts, and thirdly, in the generalarrangements whereby Athe machine may be as economically employed in thecutting of short corks as upon long ones.

ln this class of machines, as hitherto constructed, the clam-ping pieceshave been attached to the cutter stocks,.being inserted in `t-he endsthereof and made to press upon the cork by a coiled spring within thestock acting to throw the clamp out. This spring must, at thecommencement of the cutting, be stiff enough to hold the cork-woodproplerly in its place, `and as, by the `advance of the cutters, itbecomes of course still further "compressed, it soon crushes down theelasticV cork, whereby `the `cutters are required to work as theyprogress in material of in-` creasinol densit This however is not the honly evil, forthe pressure `throws `the cork to i one side `and hence itbears against the cutters `*with considerable force, making it necyessary that more power should be employed to` drive the machine than wasat first necessary, on account of the lateral friction of the cuttersAas well asgthe denser character of the material upon which they come tooperate. In the cutting of `large flat corks, such as for pickle jars or`for bungs, this deflective action is ofbut `little importance,

travel in out Vof Contact withany Amore 4of the wood than is actuallynecessary. These machines havealso been defective in another particular,viz. as much time has been oc- -cupied in cutting" a shortcork as wasrequired for ythe longest, since the machines have been constructed for.the travel necessary to cut a cork of maximum length and have not :beencapable of such adjustment that the travel could Vbe `made only to thedistance required when operating on thinner sheets of material. All ofrthese defects are obviated by the improvements which We have made, aswill be seen `from the following .descriptionof the construction andoperation thereof. i

The cutters .and clamps are .arranged across one end of the frame workofthe machine, in `vertical position, and over the supporting table, asseen in Figs. l and 2, wherein M represents the spindles or revolvingstocks for carrying the cutters, .theletter I the fixed clamps passingthrough said spindles, `and N N .the pair of cutters `to each spindle.Beneath #these rests the ltable E which has nuts F and screw bolts, asshown, -in order that the `table `may be raised 4or lowered. r[he cutterspindles M are held like drill-stocks in a .frame as seen `at (0') inthe several figures, This is attached to fixed slides P in `such `mannerthat it can Abe moved up and down. These spindles are hollow, and theclamp rods zpass up through them and each rod is suspended at its topend .by

`a knob rest-ing inthe forked end of a lever or arm, K, which projectsfrom a cross shaft resting upon the Amain frame. Upon `the top of eachclamp-rod there presses a feather spring J tending constantly to forceit downward. VAt thelower end of each .rod is a round clamp plate Iroughened on that surface which presses upon the cork so as thereby tomaintain a securehold. rlhe use of the levers K is for raising theclamps to free the cork and to make room `to insert a fresh piece ofcorkwood.

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An arm (u) is attached to the cross shaft (1) and this is againconnected with a second lever (t) beneath, the end of which is struck bya post (s) aixed to the sliding frame (0), so that when the latter risesto carry up the cutters this post will strike.() and raise also theclamps. The frame carrying the cutter spindles is caused to be raisedand lowered by two cams (it) and (g) revolving upon a cross shaft (f) atthe back part of the frame, and acting upon a system of adjustablelevers and lift rods by which the two are connected together. The cam isfor raising the frame (o) and the cam (7L) for depressing it. These camsact upon opposite sides of avertical post through a slot in which thecam shaft passes, as shown in Fig. 3. The post (i) is connected to oneend of a lever of the first kind (m), which is again connected toanother lever (p) by a link (a), and this latter to the frame (o) bylink (g) which has adjustments for varying its length. an adjustment forincreasing the throw of the levers viz., by slots or holes (m) and (29')by which the link may be shifted to or from their respective ulcra.

The object of lengthening or shortening thelevers is to give more orless travel to the frame (o) according to the length of the corks to becut and thickness of corkwood. The object of the adjustable link is toset the frame so as tostart always from a given point in its downwardmotion, which it would not otherwise do when the extent of the arc ofthe motion of the levers was changed.

The frame (0) carrying the cutter stocks may be made to descend, whencutting a short cork, at the same rate ont speed as when cutting a longone, by taking olic the gear wheels (b) and (c) which transmit themotion from the main shaft@ to the shaft (f), and substituting for themothers having the number of their teeth relatively different, and thusthe speed of the shaft (f) may be varied when the proportion of the endsof the adjustable levers to each other has been changed.

The cutter spindles are shown as being geared together by toothed wheelsM', the object of which is to keep the cutters ot' one spindle frominterfering with those of the next, by causing them to keep always acertain distance from each other. Thus considerable saving may beeffected of the corkwood, since the cutter stocks may be placed soclosely together that the path of the cutters will intersect each other,as seen in Fig. 6, so that the corks cut out will be separated only bythe width of the groove formed by the thickness oit' one set of cutters,in consequence of the cutters of the next spindle traveling partly inthis groove, and so on throughout the series, whereas were the spin-There is also Y dles so far apart that the paths of the'cut ters willnot intersect, there would ber-left,V

not only a stratum of wood but the thickness also of an additionalcutter. groove.`

main driving shaft, and then a weight W applied to act upon them, asshown, will keep the said belts in proper' tension at all times. Thecutters are of peculiar construction.

These are seen at N and N in the several igures and are represented asenlarged in Fig. 7. Two or more may be carried by each spindle.

As shown in the drawings there are but two, being the least that willeffect the cutting properly. Each cutter consists of two acting partsviz. a cutting blade and a grub. The blades precede the grub;

The lower end of each cutter terminates in a` thin iat blade, as shownin Figs. l, 3 and 7.

A little above is seen the grubbing point-l at (r) and (g) of F ig. 7.This is formed upon one of the cutters by beveling the toolV as seen inthe enlarged views at (1) upto the blade, and squaring the point soformed. The opposite cutter is differently formed at this part bygrooving out the edge of the grub and thus forming a short second blade,as at (g) Fig. 7. 1t will be seen that the position of these tools issuch that the pointsV of the two blades on each spindle will not followeach other in the same track but A will describe two circles ofdifterentdiamf eters and concentric.

Thus as they pene-V trate the corkwood two thin circular incisions willthereby vloe made, leaving anar row stratum of cork between of thethickness.

of the cutter shank. As the blades penetrate, the point of the grub (g)will comev upon the cork left in this annular space and `begin `to grubit out, but leaving it in a ridge which.'

the square ended grub (r) further reduces,

and thus the cork so detached is discharged. The operation will be asfollows-*The cam (g) being brought around so as to be under the roller(7c) the frame (o) will then be at its full height. The cutters andclamps all being thus brought up,the link VVis now to be so set in theslot in the levers-(m)v and (p) as to produce the proper degree ofdescent, the cutters should' have to "pass through a given thickness ofcorkwood. The link (g and g) is then to be adjusted for length so as toraisethe frame (0) to its full height as the given starting point'forcutting all corkwood whatever be its thickness, and the table E must beraised soias to bring the top of the cork blocks upto the clamps. Thegear wheels and. should now be adjusted, using a set which will give asrapid downward travel to the frame (o) as is consistent with the properaction of the cutters, and it will be evident that when the levers areat any time adjusted to give a greater length of travel, the speed ofthe shaft (f) will have to be increased in order to afford the samespeed of travel to the said frame. rl`hese adjustmentsl being properlymade, a strip of corkwood of suitable thickness for the desired lengthof the cork is to be placed upon the table and the machine put inmotion. As soon as the cam (g) clears the roller (7c) the arms l( willbe released, for the post (s) will drop by reason ot the frame beginningto descend; the springs .l will thus torce down the clamp rods upon thecork. The cutters, being now in rapid revolution, penetrate thematerial, and are caused to descend gradually by the cam (il.) acting topress down the rod The thin blades first inscribe two concentriccircles, the grubs tollow as already described, and complete theexcavation, leaving finally a complete cork under each clamp detachedfrom the corkblock. rEhe preceding edge of the cam has now come aroundto the roller (/c) while (/z) has got clear of its lower roller (Z). Thewhole row of spindles will now be lifted suddenly so that their cutterswill be clear of `the corks. This is done by means of a weight or springapplied at the opposite end of the lever upon a rod A. The upward motionofthe frame (o) will be arrested when the pin (s) strikes the lever (t),the springs J resisting the movement of t-he arms K. The cam now strikes(7c) thus raising the iframe (o) still higher, but to a slight degreeonly, and carrying with it the clamp rods l through the lifting lever orarms K. This last motion releases the cork and cork-wood, when the wholemay be drawn off the table and a new slip inserted,

time being allowed for this while the cam (g) is moving past the roller(le). At Gr is a facing ot' wood upon E to allow the cutters topenetrate slightly so as to insure that they pass completely through thecork-wood. Ditferent diameters of corks can be produced. by spreadingapart or bringing nearer together the cutters, which may be accomplishedby well known devices, such as screwing a new cutter head to thespindles oi the required dimension &c.

lVe claim- Y l. So combining the fixed clamps with the spindles andcutters revolving around them, that the latter can be both revolved, andraised-and lowered, without. imparting motion to the clamps,substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. The cutters so formed as to make, in the first insta-nce, two annularand concentric incisions and then grub out the corkwood left detached bysaid cutters, substantially in the manner herein set forth.

8. The arrangement, as described of the adjustable levers and links, andtheir combination with the spindle frame and the driving cams, for thepurpose of producing the different degrees 'of travel required ot' thespindle frame for cutting corks of various lengths, and of enabling thesaid frame to be always started from a given point, as set forth herein.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscnribed our names.

HENRY F. COX. ALEXANDER MILLAR.

Witnesses:

J. P. PInssoN, S. H. MAYNARD.

